


Kisses

by womeninthesequel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 5+1 Things, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Harry Potter Epilogue Compliant, Harry Potter Next Generation, Kissing, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 02:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15596472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/womeninthesequel/pseuds/womeninthesequel
Summary: Five Times Teddy Kisses Victoire (and One Time She Kisses Him)





	Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Posting in time to be a nice surprise for Tayla. Change is tough, but you're tougher. 
> 
> Shout out to Keep for sending me a list of kiss prompts. Thank you to @lh88, @alrightginger, & @novemberthird for the beta!

It happens in a flash.

One minute, Victoire is on her broom, five years old and letting the wind play with the ends of her hair. 

It isn’t even a fake game. They’re just tossing a quaffle back and forth, trying to improve their reflexes in the air. Teddy grins when she manages to catch one throw with the tips of her fingers. She flips her hair confidently in the same way she saw her mother do it.

The next minute, something changes. 

Without a word, he throws her a challenge by completing a trick with nothing more than a confident nod of his head. Victoire wants to try that new turn Teddy kept showing off this week with a proud half-smirk on his face. He may be bigger than her, but she doesn’t let him win anything without a fight. 

Her forehead scrunches in concentration. She’s determined. Victoire thinks of her aunt and tries to imitate the ease that Ginny puts into all of her Quidditch plays. Unfortunately, she puts too much power behind the attempt and loses control.

In the next second, she feels the sudden hardness of the ground and a sharp pain in her knee. 

Quickly, Victoire tries to figure out what happened, but it’s hard to think about anything except how much it hurts. Her vision blurs with unwanted tears. She only remembers Teddy is there when she can hear someone calling for her.

Then, it’s not just the pain that’s overwhelming but also the embarrassment. She feels so little and childish next to him. 

This was the last thing that she wanted from a summer day with Teddy. It will be another reason why he soon won’t want to play with her anymore. He’s getting older and has more important things to do. Teddy will find a new best friend and forget all about a baby who cries over scraped knees.

When Teddy kneels in front of her, Victoire tries to wipe the tears away before he can notice. She looks away from him and pretends to hide her face from the sun. 

“It’s okay, Vic,” he says, clumsily patting her shoulder. He clearly notices her tears, since Victoire can feel the pad of his thumb on her cheek, brushing them aside. 

Instead of being able to say anything, Victoire only manages a gasping breath. She closes her eyes against her tears and his eyes. She wants him to disappear but also can’t stand the idea of being alone. 

Clearly not waiting for an answer, Teddy bends down to press a soft kiss on her knee, right above the place where a bruise is already starting to form. A laugh bubbles in her chest without her permission when he looks back up at her with a lopsided grin that she would recognize anywhere. 

“That should help.”

\-- 

There has to be some kind of explanation.

All of the adults she knows get so horribly sappy and strange this time of year. The middle of February comes around, and they all forget how to be normal. Even Aunt Ginny, who is possibly the coolest person in the entire universe, falls into the trap when Uncle Harry slips a note into her hand and kisses her temple. Nothing in her seven years of life provides any guidance. 

After breakfast, as her mother is putting away the bowls and spoons, Victoire wrinkles her nose and decides that it’s time to find some answers. 

When she asks, her mother tells her that it’s because they’re married. This causes another confused expression. Maman goes on to explain that being married means you choose to live with someone. You love each other and support each other and sometimes do embarrassing things like send overpriced gifts and attempt grand gestures. Being married is being with your best friend all of the time.

This marriage thing seems to make her parents happy. They whisper secrets to each other and share looks that communicate more than full conversations. 

So, she follows up with the only reasonable question. “So, how do you get married?”

That is how she finds herself, only a half an hour later, standing in the middle of Andromeda’s yard with her hands on her hips. “You have to kiss me, Teddy,” Victoire explains, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. She didn’t know the rules of marriage just that morning, but he doesn’t have to know that.

Being married means you stay with someone for a long time and don’t get mad, even when they’re being annoying or leave their shoes in the middle of the room. You laugh at their jokes, even when they aren’t the funniest jokes that you heard. Maman said that it’s hard, so you have to make sure you pick the right person.

There’s only one person in the whole world she would want to marry. 

Teddy’s arms are crossed over his chest, his face defiant. “Why?”

Isn’t he supposed to be the older and wiser one? Victoire stops herself from rolling her eyes. Married people have to be patient. “So we can be married.”

“Why do we want to do that?”

The answer comes to her easily. “So we can be together all of the time.”

He looks like he’s considering this for a moment. She worries that he considers for a second too long before he nods seriously. “Okay.”

“Okay?” she confirms, hearing the happy lift in her own voice. Admittedly, she can’t help but be a little surprised. She loves him more than anyone else, but he likes to be difficult when she knows something that he doesn’t know.

“Yeah,” he answers. Teddy smiles and takes a step closer to her.

Everything is going to be great. They’re going to get to stay up past their bedtimes and stay over in each other’s rooms. They’ll leave each other nice notes and little presents. He’ll do something to make her smile, and she’ll make sure that he laughs. People won’t be able to separate them. 

Victoire folds her hands in front of her and goes onto her toes. She closes her eyes, knowing that she’ll want to remember this moment someday.

Teddy bends slightly and kisses her forehead. 

When she returns to her usual height and looks up at him, Victoire notices the faint line between his brows. His eyes are cloudy. “Did we do it right?” he asks, an edge of worry in his tone.

She doesn’t know all of the rules, but she nods anyway. “Now, Teddy, you just say, ‘I do.’”

\-- 

At thirteen, Victoire feels like she is all limbs and awkward angles. 

On top of classes and schoolwork, hormones run the show. She feels a million different things at once. She wants to hide under a pillow when she gets a break out that won’t go away. Glances from boys make her blush. It feels like everyone is staring at her all of the time, analyzing every move she makes.

Luckily, Teddy gets to use Uncle Harry’s cloak until James is old enough to need it himself. For a few minutes, while they sneak through the quiet corridors with their shoulders pressed together, Victoire is how she wants to be. She’s invisible from sideways looks or prying questions.

By the time they reach their destination, it’s late. She’s starting to feel drowsy - just enough that everything is funny and she isn’t thinking so much about everything. At this time of night and when she’s this content, she doesn’t have the energy to dissect every sentence before she says it out loud. 

They’re both laying on their backs, staring up at the stars. There’s no Astronomy classes tonight, so they have the tower to themselves. 

“Hey, Teddy?” she calls softly, hoping he hasn’t fallen asleep in the few minutes since either of them spoke.

He hums to let her know that he’s listening.

Victoire swallows. “Do you ever think about, um… your first kiss?”

That’s enough to attract his attention. She can hear him moving beside her. Propping himself up, he asks, “What do you mean?”

Determinedly, Victoire keeps looking at the night sky rather than her friend. It’ll be easier to understand once she gets it all out, but it will be less embarrassing if she doesn’t have to look at him while she asks. 

“I’ve been thinking. And, if you were okay with it…” She pauses, taking a breath before she says something wrong. She tries to sort out her thoughts, but they’re all jumbled. “If you kiss me, then I wouldn’t have to worry - I mean, then it couldn’t be awful. No matter what, I could look back and…”

She doesn’t know how to end the sentence and hopes that Teddy will save her. If she can’t talk to her best friend about it, who can she ask?

“Vic, sit up.”

She obeys and pushes herself into a sitting position. She crosses her legs, thankful for the cover of night and low-burning lamps. They hide the heat she can feel on her cheeks.

“Are you sure?” His voice is nearly a whisper this time.

Victoire nods. 

Now, she’s able to look at his eyes. She can see a flicker of hesitation, something she only notices because she’s been studying him ever since she can remember. Something new is there, in the faint rim of color around his irises. His eyes look different than they have before, but it’s too dark to see properly. 

Thinking about all of the romance novels she’s read and muggle movies she’s seen, Victoire closes her eyes and leans forward slightly.

She can hear her heart beating loudly in her ears when Teddy leans forward to kiss her softly. 

\--

Ordinary Wizard Level exams are in just a few weeks.

Above the textbook, Victoire’s forehead creases in a way that will probably leave a line before she gets out of school. It’s a familiar habit. At this point, she’s focused enough that she doesn’t even imagine her mother’s voice in her head, reminding her to take care of her skin. 

She can’t tell if it’s the repetition of the material, the hour, or her own shortcomings that make the words in front of her stop making sense. Charms has always been one of her best subjects, so why is it impossible to remember everything now?

Victoire feels something brush against her shoulder. She sighs, glances sideways at the boy sitting beside her, and looks back down at her book.

She looks away too quickly to notice the beginning of Teddy’s smirk.

The tests that loom in front of her determine whether she can be anything once she graduates. They forecast her career and everything that follows. Despite her family’s adoring insistence that she will be wonderful, there’s still the matter of actually proving that.

No pressure, of course. 

All term, Victoire has determinedly staked out a table in the back of the library. It’s quieter than the common room and isn’t filled with other students who are just as anxious as she is. Spreading her things across the table, she can review, read, and take notes until her eyes don’t stay open anymore.

Even with Quidditch, friends, regular classwork, and her honeymoon-stage relationship, she intentionally finds herself at the same table in the library at the same time every week. When she told Teddy about her regular study session, he asked to come along. He has exams of his own since it’s his last year, she reasoned to herself. With a shrug, Victoire gave him an open invitation.

When Teddy nudges her shoulder this time, she starts to think that it isn’t an accident.

According to the professors, time spent doing anything other than studying is a waste. This close to exams, she’s tempted to believe them.

She ignores him and crosses out a line of her own writing.

After a few more minutes, she’s back into the flow of things. The words aren’t blurring together as much, and she can remember the incantation of the Bubble-Head Charm. Victoire tilts her head to the side, resting her chin on her propped up hand.

She feels warm breath against her neck for a split second before Teddy’s lips press against her skin.

Instantly, she forgets how to unlock a door with her wand. The purpose of lumos flutters out of her mind. An inkwell might have spilled onto the table, but she can’t be sure. Her eyes slide shut without her permission.

She can’t think about anything other than the trail his kisses are making up to her chin, back below her ear, and against her pulse point. Victoire makes a small noise, wishing she had the resolve to stand firm but knowing that’s not what she really wants. 

Teddy cups her cheek and turns her face toward him. He hesitates for a moment, meeting her eyes and giving her a chance to go back to studying.

Victoire nods and presses her knee against his under the table. 

She starts to smile before his lips meet hers.

\-- 

Hogwarts is not good at keeping secrets.

It’s especially not good at keeping secrets when they involve the Boy Who Lived’s godson, a part-veela student, and rumors about what they are doing after curfew. 

Toward the beginning of the year, she practically lectures Teddy on not letting any favoritism show. He takes his position seriously, and neither of them want to mark it with assumptions. The school knows about their relationship, but that doesn’t mean that they need to give Rita Skeeter another reason to write about dark corners.

Things change as biting winter turns to budding spring. Summer is approaching. Soon, only some exams and mere days will stand before them and a world where Teddy isn’t at Hogwarts anymore. Victoire is a good girlfriend - supportive of his ambitions, proud of his accomplishments - but she’s going to miss him terribly.

She remembers how hard it was to see the train leave the platform without her when he first went to Hogwarts. Now, when she’s used to snuggling against him or feeling his fingers casually drift across her skin, it will be even harder.

Nearly everyone paying attention quickly notices the altered schedule. It allows the Head Boy’s rounds to conveniently coincide with the assignments of a particular prefect. 

They don’t do anything that first years couldn’t see. Sometimes, she holds Teddy’s hand since she likes the way he runs his thumb across the back of hers. He tells a private joke and she lets the empty halls hear her laughter. At the end of the night, Victoire gives him a kiss good night and promises to see him at breakfast.

For awhile, that’s enough. Prefect duties aren’t supposed to be dates. They have time for that later. 

Now, however, with the term ending in a few weeks, Victoire finds it hard to care who finds them. 

The first time, she rolls her skirt’s waistband and bounces on the balls of her feet while she waits for him. When Teddy’s eyes only briefly hesitate on the shortened hemline before taking her hand, Victoire decides that it must not be obvious enough.

The second try is better. 

That morning, she picks her bra with particular care. It’s the dark blue one with lace on the edges that has to look enticing from a glance. She spends an embarrassing amount of time in the mirror before rounds, fluffing her hair and trying to make everything look perfectly out of order. She leaves an extra button (or two) undone by her collar, and her tie hangs loose, barely even knotted.

When Teddy sees her, he’s frozen for a few solid seconds before he clears his throat. Victoire smiles, letting it fill her whole face. Her heart speeds up like it used to, before she knew that he fancied her back. He’s going to do it. He’s going to lose any control, and…

Instead, Teddy clears his throat again, takes her hand, and tugs her down their usual route.

The third time, she doesn’t know what else to try. When they walk down another abandoned corridor, she bites her bottom lip in contemplation. The whole night, she’s been trying to think of what she can do to make him forget about the badge for a second and snog her like they’re the ones hiding from prefects.

“Vic…” he says in a breath that sounds like he’s been holding it for too long.

Glancing over at him, she tries to keep her expression neutral. “Yeah?”

Suddenly, Victoire’s back hits the wall. 

The kiss tastes like her name in two languages.

\--

&

\-- 

He’s supposed to be here.

Victoire leans against a pillar, out of the sight line of her parents for a few minutes. They have to say goodbyes to Louis and Dominique, so she won’t be missed. She picks at her fingernail distractedly and tries not to look up at the clock again. Failing, her eyes immediately track the minute hand as it creeps up the clock face.

They’re running out of time before she’s gone until Christmas.

Letters are fine, but they won’t do the whole job. She can write and tell him about everything that happens, but he still won’t be there. She won’t be able to see his eyes change color or feel him brush back her hair or let him talk away her worries. 

She doesn’t want to be dramatic, but she thought this was important to him too.

For a few glorious weeks, they had little to worry about other than playing in the ocean by her parents’ house and sneaking moments together. The break from his training gave them the brief glimpse of what things might be like next summer. The possibilities dangle in front of her.

Not that she isn’t excited to go back to Hogwarts. Like everyone in her family, Victoire has a part of her heart reserved for the castle. She likes school and wouldn’t be in her house if she didn’t love to learn. Hogwarts is fantastic and incredibly magical.

But her boyfriend is in London, which might as well be a million miles away.

They made the plan last week. He was going to slip away from the Ministry to meet her at the platform. She would duck away from her family for a bit so that he could see her off properly. He’s busy, she knows, but he swore it could happen anyway. He told her not to worry, not to cry, because they still had some time before they had to do long distance again.

Now, it’s that time. 

She’s past picking at her fingers and chews on her thumb nail, not even pretending to look away from the clock. In a few minutes, she’ll have to go back to her parents and put on a good face. She’ll hug them both and promise to write and anxiously await Teddy’s explanation by owl the next morning.

But then, she spots a streak of turquoise weaving in and out of the crowd. Victoire’s eyes finally leave the clock and follow its path through the small crowds of families. She stands and brushes herself off, moving onto her toes to try to catch a glimpse of his face. 

“Sorry,” Teddy says quickly, appearing in front of her and out of breath. “I couldn’t get away and-”

Before he can finish, Victoire surges toward him. She knots her fingers in Teddy’s hair and presses herself against him. With only a short time left before the train departs, she has to put everything she wants to say for the next few months into this kiss. 

Her lips meet his and nothing else matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at women-inthe-sequel!


End file.
